Today on Kresta - March 15, 2011

Talking about the "things that matter most" on March 15

4:00 – The Most Human Human: What Talking with Computers Teaches Us About What It Means to Be Alive
Computers playing chess. Computers playing Jeopardy! What does this technology teach us about what it means to be alive? In a fast-paced, witty, and thoroughly winning style, Brian Christian documents his experience in the 2009 Turing Test, a competition in which judges engage in five-minute instant-message conversations with unidentified partners, and must then decide whether each interlocutor was a human or a machine. The program receiving the most "human" votes is dubbed the "most human computer," while the person receiving the most votes earns the title of "most human human." Ranging from philosophy through the construction of pickup lines to poetry, Christian examines what it means to be human and how we interact with one another, and with computers as equals.

4:20 – The Kingdom and the Cross
We believe a lot of false narratives about the nature of God, things like "God helps those who help themselves"; "God blesses the righteous"; "God might not be out for your good, and you might be missing something." But James Bryan Smith points us to the truth of who God is, revealed by Jesus: A God who loves to help the helpless. A God who doesn't play favorites, whether righteous or unrighteous. A God who is, in his essence, self-sacrificing--even to death--to save a people he loves. We look at Christ's work on the cross and what it all means about who God is and how we're to live as his people.

4:40 – Japan, the Nuclear Reactors and the Media’s Fear Card
AP: “Dangerous levels of radiation leaking from a crippled nuclear plant forced Japan to order 140,000 people to seal themselves indoors Tuesday after an explosion and a fire dramatically escalated the crisis spawned by a deadly tsunami.” Nuclear expert Jack Spencer says “not so fast.” Is the media hyping this nuclear threat to a lever that is just not warranted? Jack has the answers.

5:00 – Baby Joseph Doing Well After Transfer to US Hospital
The baby who was hours from being pulled off life support at his Canadian hospital has been rescued by the national director of Priests for Life and taken to the U.S. for treatment. Thirteen-month-old Joseph Maraachli, who is currently kept alive by a respirator and was denied a tracheotomy in order to go home, arrived in the U.S. early Monday morning with Fr. Frank Pavone and his parents. Fr. Frank joins us.

5:20 – An Evening of Tribute to Joe Scheidler
Joe Scheidler is one of the Grandfathers of the Pro-Life Movement. He was called the Green Beret of the pro-life movement by Pat Buchanan. His book on his methods of fighting abortion, CLOSED: 99 Ways to Stop Abortion was a seminal book for pro-lifers. Joe also produced the definitive videos on sidewalk counseling, No Greater Joy, and Face the Truth. He was the chief defendant in a RICO lawsuit brought against him, his pro-life action league, and other pro-life activists by the National Organization for Women and two abortion clinics. In April, pro-life activists from across the country, including Al, will gather in Chicago to honor the life and work of Joe Scheidler. We talk with Monica Miller, one of the organizers of the event.

5:40 – TBA